Patrik Elias scores a hat trick to lead Devils, 4-2, over Flyers

Paul Bereswill/Getty ImagesThe Devils' Patrik Elias celebrates after scoring against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Prudential Center in Newark tonight.

The Flyers, who ushered the Devils out of the playoffs last spring, would’ve enjoyed eliminating Jacques Lemaire’s squad from contention this year.

But that will have to be done by someone else.

Patrik Elias scored a hat trick and goalie Johan Hedberg was unexpectedly sharp in his first game in more than a month as the Devils kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 4-2 triumph over the Flyers tonight before a sellout crowd of 17,625 at the Prudential Center.

The Devils are 10 points behind both the eighth-place Rangers and seventh-place Buffalo Sabres. With five games remaining, they can get no more than 87 points and are therefore one point from elimination.

“Our goal is to win all the games,” Elias said. “Just to play well and enjoy the five games left. We don’t look beyond that.”

It was rookie winger Nick Palmieri who scored the deciding goal with 11:05 remaining when a shot from Ilya Kovalchuk deflected off his skate and into the net. The goal was Palmieri’s eighth of the season and gave him three points (1-2-3) in the last two games.

Hedberg, who played his first game since Feb. 25 in Tampa and made 34 saves in raising his record to 14-11-2, knows it is out of the Devils’ hands. But the hope is to try to make it interesting.

“We have no other choice. We have no other intentions, either,” Hedberg said. “But we’re not going to mention the word. We’ll see when game 82 is played.”

Elias completed his hat trick with a deflection off the inside of his right skate at 17:14. A video review allowed it to stand.

Christian Brothers Academy grad James vanRiemsdyk had two scoring chances less than two minutes into the third period. Hedberg then stopped Danny Briere from deep in the left circle at 2:22.

Despite some exceptional goaltending from Hedberg, the Flyers evened the score, 2-2, on a Jeff Carter goal at 4:18. Carter took a Nikolay Zherdev pass and scored from the deep slot.
It was Carter’s 36th goal.

Hedberg, who last played a game on Feb. 25 in Tampa, was in goal for the Devils. Hedberg started all six games against the Flyers this season.

Trailing, 1-0, the Devils bounced back to take the lead on a pair of goals from Elias in the second period.

Elias erased a 1-0 deficit at 6:28 of the second. Brian Rolston carried the puck in deep and fed Elias from the left corner. The veteran forward beat Flyers goalie Brian Boucher with a shot from the slot above the hash marks.

The Devils took a 2-1 lead when Elias struck again at 8:20. This time it was a shorthanded goal with Anton Volchenkov in the penalty box for tripping.

Rolston led a 2-on-1 with James vanRiemsdyk back for the Flyers. Rolston’s cross-slot pass found Elias below the left circle for his 18th goal of the season. The goals came 1:52 apart.

It was the second two-goal game of the season for the Elias — both against the Flyers. The first came on Jan. 22 in Philadelphia.

The Devils have four shorthanded goals this season.

Rookie Jacob Josefson had a chance to make it 3-1 with 3:52 left, but his shot from the left hash marks was stopped by Boucher. Ilya Kovalchuk made the pass to give Josefson the chance.

With 2:23 remaining in the second, Boucher made a glove save on Mattias Tedenby as the Devils kept the pressure on the Flyers’ goalie.

Kovalchuk was all alone in front of the net with 1:50 to go, but the puck bounced over his stick and out of danger.

A defensive mistake led to Philadelphia’s goal at 10:50 of the opening period.

Defenseman Anssi Salmela, who had just jumped onto the ice, swung and missed the puck at the left point. That gave the Flyers an odd-man rush up the right wing boards with Kovalchuk back alone on that side.

Mike Richards stopped in the right circle before centering a pass that was tipped by vanRiemsdyk for the New Jersey native’s 20th goal of the season.

Boucher made a save on a dangerous backhander from Elias with 6:56 left.